Commercial air travel in the Pacific is now safer and more reliable after a four-year programme to improve air navigation across the region.
Photo: 123rf
The Pacific Aeronautical Charting and Procedures project upgraded decades-old flight approaches and aviation charts at 39 airports across nine Pacific countries.
It also designed satellite-based approach procedures to improve the ability of aircraft to land safely, especially in poor weather.
The safety of aviation is vital to the economies of Pacific countries, which rely on the aviation sector for almost all travel and trade.
The project was a joint effort between the New Zealand Aid Programme, Airways International through its subsidiary Aeropath, and the governments of Vanuatu, the Cook Islands, Niue, Nauru, Kiribati, Samoa, Tonga, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
